The Importance of Music

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

Music surrounds us. For many people in this day and age, life is too hectic, too stressy and just too busy for us to simply take a deep breath, settle down and take a good look at our lives. And if we did do that, the men would quickly start to think about things like money cars women and things to do with women, and the women would quickly start to think about things like that new brand of make up, what to make for dinner, and why their husbands snore so damn loud at night. And so here in the Western world we often fail to notice the significance of a seemingly small thing like music. In contrast, for gypsies in certain rainforests in West Africa, the music scene is incredibly important. They play all day- to them it's just like talking. I It is their sole form of entertainment (with the exception of dancing to their music). But believe it or not, things are not as drastically different here as they may seem. ...read more.

Middle

Eventually you make it into the cinema as the main characters dog is being euthanized, to the sound of tear-jerking violins, and your girlfriend crying her eyes out. If you think backwards, the movie wouldn't seen anywhere near a sad where it's not for the violins - good music undeniably has the power to evoke a strong sense of emotion in people. Music can also be very effective due to its uncanny ability to be deeply memorable, as can be seen by the successfulness of '101 FM' 'Nokia' and 'Friday'. And there we have it: music is a deeply ingrained part of our society (as well is that of the west African rainforest gypsies). It is without doubt a key aspect of every known form of mass media, with the exception of books and magazines of course. It is also often an important aspect of entertainment: obviously, music itself in concerts and CDs and suchlike, but also in games (sport and videogames) and the entertainment side of parts of the media I previously mentioned. ...read more.

Conclusion

Of course, one of the things I love most about music is the performance aspect of it. I recently had to make a spontaneous sax solo in front of thousands of people, which was both exhilarating and nerve wracking but it was worth it. Music is an ever expanding and ever-changing art form that can be more complex than maths lessons with Mr Napper, more abstract than Picasso and infinitely harder to understand than why President Bush was elected not once but twice as president of America. I'd like to close with a quote about jazz which is my preferred musical genre: "when it first reached Paris during World War I the response of the people registered as shock: the music was not simply musical, they said - it was physical, visual, social and emotional as well." And there we have it; music is deeply significant - not only to me, but to society as a whole - and it is also memorable, emotional, powerful and complex beyond belief. (Unless you're talking about "Friday" of course). Thank you. ...read more.

Related GCSE Writing to Inform, Explain and Describe essays

As we got closer to the door I squinted to read the sign, hoping for any indication of what awaited me beyond. It simply read ROOM 101. I was thrown into the room and the door slammed shut. Once again I was blind, the thick black only broken slightly by a slight beam of light coming from under the door.

over my shoulder, "Maybe we could come here more often...a pretty cool place, what do you think?" "Stacey, what do you think...Stacey...?" I turned around and not being surprised I found that once again I was talking to myself. As I began turning the pages of my latest discovery, I let my thoughts wander.